Barcelona ace Messi hungry for more titles as Catalans begin post-Guardiola era with a bang
Lionel Messi hailed Barcelona’s superiority in Sunday’s 5-1 thrashing of Real Sociedad at Camp Nou. The Argentine netted two goals to get the Catalans’ La Liga season off to a winning start, and Messi is full of ambition for the remainder of the 2012-13 campaign.
“We’re a team that wants to keep on winning important titles for the club. I want to win it all, just like Tito (Vilanova). It will be difficult, but we’ll try. It’s important to start off winning,” Messi stated to Barca TV.
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Magnificent:u00a0Barcelona’s Lionel Messi celebratesu00a0a goal during Sunday’s La Liga tie against Real Sociedad. PICs/AFP, Getty images
“Despite having a new manager, the team continues to play with the same philosophy. We’re playing with the same style of play.”
Carles Puyol’s header from a corner on two minutes put Barca in the lead before Sociedad’s Chori Castro scored to level for the away team.
Messi added a double in four minutes to kill off the opposition, his first coming when he squeezed past two defenders to power home.
For his second he latched on to a loose ball to hit home and he nearly had three within six minutes when a header went just high. On the stroke of half-time Cesc Fabregas and Jonathen Tello combined to provide for Pedro to finish well.
Barca took their foot off the gas in the second-half, perhaps with one eye on the Spanish Super Cup game with Real Madrid on Thursday.
However, the introduction of David Villa on 75 minutes brought the crowd to its feet and he only had to wait nine minutes to get his reward, finishing off an Andres Iniesta pass.
Xavi hails Villa return
Barcelona midfielder Xavi hailed the long-awaited return of striker David Villa as the best thing about his side’s season-opening 5-1 mauling of Real Sociedad. Xavi said of the 30-year-old on Canal Plus: “He has suffered a lot, he had a major injury and he is back. The truth is that the best thing of all is the return of ‘Guaje’ Villa.”
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